"I was now aware that there were minute differences that were completely unique to this world, but I was left unsure of their source. How many of them were because of my actions?"

When Robin walked through the tunnel and onto the main floor of the Arena Ferox she was almost blown away by the eruption of cheers from the audience. She had scouted the arena earlier that morning and had been amazed at how many people could sit in attendance, but to see those stands filled was a sight beyond compare. After a few seconds of admiring the crowd she turned her attention to Flavia's box and spotted the East-Khan sitting down with Chrom and Sumia to her right. Robin could also see Lissa and Ricken at their positions on the sidelines of the arena floor and that Lissa was clutching a brand new healing staff.

When Robin finally looked across the arena, she grinned when she saw that all seven of their opponents were standing on their end of the sidelines. While she was reviewing the rules for the tournament in the early morning, she had noticed an interesting clause stating that while the teams had to be decided before the match started, those teams did not have to be public knowledge. As such, she had instructed the rest of the Shepherds to stay behind in the darkness of the tunnel where they wouldn't be spotted, so as to maintain at least some element of surprise. Granted the effect was significantly lessened when four of the six Shepherds who weren't participating were in plain view, but Robin would gladly take any possible advantage that she could get. Sully and Stahl had been instructed to sit with the rest of the crowd, so they at least shouldn't be spotted.

Looking over at the West Feroxi champions, Robin saw that Flavia's assessment had been correct with one significant exception; Robin was shocked to see Marth standing on the other side of the arena from her instead of a Chon'sin swordsman. With everything else that had occurred over the last week she had almost forgotten about the mysterious swordsman that had aided them against the Risen on the day that she had met the Shepherds. Now that man was her opponent. Robin's eyes darted back to Chrom and saw his incredulous expression as he spoke to Sumia. When Robin returned her gaze back to Marth, she saw that the swordsman was also staring at the East-Khan's box, though Robin was unable to read his expression due to the distance and his mask.

"Welcome citizens of Regna Ferox!" A booming voice cut through the noise of the crowd and when Robin looked for the source she saw a man with two mages standing by his side. The mages appeared to be doing something with Wind magic to amplify his voice and Robin muttered to herself to investigate how that was done. She hoped that Anders would remind her if she forgot, since that would be a useful trick to know on the battlefield. Meanwhile, the crowd's cheers had only increased at the welcome and even with the aid of magic the announcer was having to raise his voice to ensure that he was heard.

"It's been three long years since our last Clash of East and West, so please allow me to review how this all works! As you all know, West-Khan Basilio won the previous Clash…" The announcer theatrically paused to allow the crowd to split between booing and continuing to cheer. Once that died down, he continued, "Which means that there will be seven champions for the west to the east's six. However, East-Khan Flavia has made a last minute change and her champions this year are the famous Ylissean Shepherds!" The cheering increased again at the announcement and Robin wondered how many of them actually knew who the Shepherds were.

"We have a last minute substitution on the west side of the field as well! Despite his showing at the last Clash, Lon'qu has been replaced by an enigmatic mercenary calling himself Marth. Marth defeated Lon'qu in single combat several days ago, so let's see if he can best the Chon'sin swordsman's performance in the Arena too!" This time, the crowd didn't seem to know how to react and there was only scattered applause. "Without any further delay, let's begin the tournament! The first champion from both sides may now enter the arena!"

Without any hesitation, the unfamiliar one of the two swordsmen drew his weapon and calmly walked to the center of the arena while Robin nodded in approval. It made sense to lead with one of the pairs of duplicate weapon specialists so your options were still open later on. The Feroxi swordsman reached the center of the arena and started to fidget slightly as he impatiently waited for his opponent to join him in the arena.

"I've been told that the tactician for the Shepherds has opted to keep her roster secret, but it's time for the first Ylissean champion to take to the field! Unfortunately you'll have to reveal who you're fielding at some point." Robin smirked at the announcer's comment and gave him a thumbs up, which only seemed to confuse him more. "Erm, I don't believe there's a penalty for being slow but-"

The announcer was cut off by a pained shout from Feroxi swordsman as he dropped to one knee and fumbled to maintain his grip on his blunted weapon. The crowd was filled with confused murmurs and even the announcer seemed to be at a loss for words for several seconds while the swordsman wildly looked around to see what had hit him.

"Oho! The Shepherd's first champion appears to be the knight Kellam! Even with his heavy armor he can be so difficult to spot that some people insist he isn't really there. Let's see how Tharm is able to handle fighting someone that he can't see!"

Robin wasn't sure if she was getting better at spotting Kellam or if it was because of how exposed he was standing in the middle of the arena, but she could see the man much easier than usual. Standing above the downed Feroxi swordsman was what looked like the outline of a suit of armor rather than the hazy air that usually signaled his presence. Robin groaned when she saw Kellam take a step away from Tharm, giving the swordsman a chance to return to his feet. Apparently she should have told him to follow up with his surprise attack and immediately finish the bout rather than trying to fight honorably.

Thankfully it seemed that it wouldn't be too much of an issue. After Tharm had regained his footing, the swordsman had started swinging his sword around wildly but had yet to even get close to hitting Kellam. Staying clear of the strikes, Kellam waited until the swordsman turned his back to the knight and then lunged forward and hit Tharm in the exact same spot on his leg. This time Kellam's opponent was able to maintain his footing despite the injury and quickly swung his sword in an arc behind himself. The sword connected with Kellam's armor but was deflected without causing injury to the Shepherd.

"Not well it would seem!" The announcer exclaimed as he resumed his commentary. "Fighting an armored opponent with a sword can be difficult at the best of times, but it might be hopeless if you can't even spot their weak points!"

Emboldened by the announcer's comments and his success so far, Kellam made another strike without waiting for an opening and hit Tharm in the middle of his chest. The swordsman's leather armor blocked most of the force from the blunted lance, but it was still enough to make the man wheeze as the air was forced out of his lungs.

"Finish him this time!" Robin yelled out, not wanting Kellam to give his opponent an opportunity to recover again. The longer the fight wore on, the more that Kellam would tire himself out and there was always a chance that Tharm would land a lucky blow. This time the knight did try to end the fight and Kellam stabbed forward again with his lance at the Feroxi's chest. Not having recovered from his previous hit yet, the swordsman doubled over at the blow and dropped his weapon as the crowd cheered.

"A strong start for the Ylissean Shepherds!" The announcer barked while several attendants rushed onto the field so that they could take Tharm over to Lissa's side. Robin glanced over at the cleric and was relieved to see that she was excitedly chatting with Ricken about the battle. Lissa quickly switched to business when the Feroxi swordsman was brought over to her and she started treating his wounds with her newly acquired staff. Robin hoped that Anders' assessment had been wrong and watching the fights wouldn't upset Lissa in the same way that the Shepherds' previous encounters had.

"Let's see which of the West champions Marth decides will be the next to fight Kellam the Invisible! Whoever it is will have to have a keen eye to even stand a chance!" Robin could see that Marth was in a hurried discussion with his companions and once the deliberation was over one of the two mages walked onto the field. "It seems that Falk will be the next champion for the West. He's a Fire specialist who can light an entire bonfire without using a tome!"

Robin frowned slightly as Falk shouted 'Fire' and a small ball of fire flew towards Kellam who had started advancing on the mage. She had expected Marth to send one of the two mages to send Kellam, but she would have guessed that the one with the Thunder tome would have been the choice. Thunder's erratic flight path was much less of an issue against slower opponents so the primary weakness of the spell was eliminated when fighting someone who was heavily armored. When the Fire spell reached Kellam, the knight brought up his shield to block it and flames flew out in all directions as it exploded.

Kellam continued towards the west side of the arena, though he had to pause every few steps when the force of another Fire spell made him halt. After the fifth block the shield must have become too hot to hold, since Kellam suddenly dropped it and reached over his shoulder to retrieve one of the javelins that was strapped to his back. The crowd had mostly been silent during Kellam's advance as many of them could only see the explosions from the Fire spells which didn't give a clear indication of what was happening. When Kellam tossed his javelin, much of the crowd shouted in surprise as the projectile appeared to come out of nowhere and flew towards Falk. The sounds from the eastern crowd quickly turned to groans when the mage sidestepped the attack and retaliated with another Fire spell, hitting Kellam in the chest.

With labored movements, Kellam retrieved the second javelin from his back and readied it rather than immediately throwing it as he had with the previous one. Falk seemed unconcerned by the shift in tactics and launched another Fire at Kellam. At the same time the Fire left the mage's hand, Kellam threw his javelin and the two projectiles met at the halfway point between the two combatants. There was another explosion of fire and the spell dissipated, but Kellam's javelin continued flying forward and hit the mage in the side.

"Incredible! Kellam managed to apply his stealth to his weapon as well!" The announcer called over the crowd's noise. "Falk couldn't see that one coming because of the flames of his own Fire spell! However, it looks like the resident firebug of Western Ferox has recovered and Kellam is out of javelins! I don't know how he'll be able to make up the remaining distance to continue the fight!"

Kellam was undeterred by the announcer's comments and resumed his march towards the mage as Fire spells continued being lobbed his way with many of them hitting their target. Unfortunately the mage was able to back up faster than Kellam could advance and there was still plenty of arena for the mage to maneuver around. The knight's armor had been hit by so many of the weak Fire spells that it was completely covered in soot, making it so that everyone in the arena could clearly see him. Kellam must have realized that he was never going to close the growing distance to the Feroxi mage, so with clear effort he threw his lance towards Falk with the last of his strength.

Unfortunately, Kellam hadn't been able to muster up enough strength and his lance clattered to the ground after only making it half of the way to mage. Almost as soon as the lance had left his hand, Kellam turned towards the sidelines and slowly trudged his way towards Lissa and Ricken. "Kellam has relinquished his weapon and forfeited the bout!" The announcer exclaimed while the crowd murmured to themselves at the odd first couple fights. "Both sides are down a single champion, but remember that means that the west has a one man advantage! Which of the Shepherds will step forward next to participate in the Clash and attempt to tie it back up?"

Even considering his defeat, Robin was very impressed with Kellam's performance in the fight. She had expected that the knight would be able to defeat his first opponent without difficulties and had figured that anything beyond that was a bonus. After all, the primary reason that she had decided to have Kellam lead the fight was for the 'wow' factor. With two mages on the opposing side, it had never been likely that he would have a favorable matchup beyond his first, but he had exceeded her expectations in both his fighting prowess and the spectacle that he caused.

Speaking of spectacle, Robin turned towards the tunnel behind her and called, "You're up Virion!"

The archer emerged from the shadows with a cocky grin. "Of course, I would hate to disappoint my adoring admirers by forcing them to wait a single second longer."

Robin snorted derisively as he walked past her and into the arena, "Focus on trying not to disappoint Chrom and me."

Virion looked back at Robin with an expression of mock shock as he retrieved an arrow from his quiver. "Perish the thought milady! In fact, I was counting you both amongst my chief admirers."

Before the tactician could retort, the announcer started the next round of introductions, "The next champion for the east is Virion! Known as the archest of archers, he joined the Shepherds to help people while dazzling them with his skills!" Robin groaned in exasperation. She had wondered where the announcer had gotten his information about Kellam, but there was no longer any question of that. She just hoped that her own introduction wasn't too awful.

Returning her concentration to the arena, Robin was pleased to see that she had been correct and that this fight was a reversal of the last. While Kellam had been forced to approach the mage in the previous round, Falk was the one who had to close the distance this time. The mage had used several Fire spells from his position at the western edge of the arena, but Virion had no difficulties sidestepping the small fireballs as they made their way over to him. On the other hand, the few yards that Virion had walked into the arena at the start of the match were more than enough to ensure that Falk was well within the archer's range.

When the west Feroxi man tried to close the distance, he was forced to dodge the volley of arrows that Virion was peppering him with. Falk was successful in avoiding the first few, but the fourth arrow caught the mage in the shoulder making him stagger backwards. Virion immediately changed his aim and his next arrow struck the mage's right hand, forcing him to drop his tome as he clutched his hand in pain.

"And Falk is disarmed!" The announcer called while Virion bowed to the cheering crowd and the mage slowly made his way to the sidelines, nursing his injured hand. This time the western side of the arena didn't hesitate and their next champion immediately lumbered onto the field. "It looks like Hugo is the next one to enter the arena. While he wears similar armor to Kellam, there's no way you could ever overlook this juggernaut!"

Virion seemed to be unconcerned by the armored man heading towards him and he flashed Robin a confident smile as he stood back up from his bow. The tactician managed to stop herself from responding with a sarcastic comment, not wanting to distract him and further lower his chances. The match as a whole was so far going according to Robin's plans and to be honest those plans didn't have Virion making it past this particular bout. The other reason that she had started with Kellam was to force her opponent into a circular trade of their units. Mages did well against armored units, who were strong against archers, who in turn did well against mages. Coincidentally, those three were the ones that Robin expected would give Frederick the most trouble, so once they were off the field the knight would be-

Robin's strategy review was interrupted by an outburst of cheers and she returned her attention to the arena. To her surprise, Virion was still unharmed while his opponent had an arrow sticking out from underneath his right arm. Hugo paused and lifted up his arm to remove the arrow, but it was immediately joined by a second arrow that hit the same exposed area. Grunting at the injury, the Feroxi lowered his arm and quickly pulled out both blood-covered arrows. Even the dulled arrows that had been provided to Virion by the Feroxi had managed to pierce the more exposed parts of the heavy armor.

Robin now gave her full attention to the fight to see how both sides would handle what was now a battle of attrition. Since it didn't look like Hugo was carrying any javelins, he would have to get into melee range with Virion before he got tired from his armor and blood loss without exposing himself to being hit by additional arrows. On the other hand, this was Virion's second fight and the Shepherds had been in a stressful battle a couple days ago after finishing a long march, so Robin suspected that he was already tired behind his bravado. She also didn't know how many arrows he had carried into the arena, but he would have to make sure that he made them all count.

The fight continued as Robin predicted for several minutes while the entire arena watched in anticipation. Hugo would make a sudden move towards Virion while moving stiffly to avoid giving the archer another openings. Whenever these charges would take place, Virion would slowly back away while simultaneously ensuring that he didn't walk out of bounds and watching the armored man. Just before he was in range of Hugo's weapon, Virion would relax the draw on his bow and sprint to another side of the arena to restart the process.

It was on the sixth repetition when Virion changed his tactics and caught his opponent off guard. Hugo had started reaching farther with his attacks in a desperate attempt to catch the archer when he fled, so Hugo was exposed when Virion didn't flee this time. Instead the archer simply hopped away from the attack and fired another arrow that logged itself underneath Hugo's arm. The Feroxi man stopped in his tracks and howled in pain as he hunched over to remove the newest sting. Unnoticed, Virion calmly walked behind the man and at the exact moment that Hugo extracted the arrow, the archer dug his left foot into the ground and kicked out with his right, hitting the injured man in his lower back. Surprised by the unexpected hit, Hugo lost his balance and stumbled forward out of the western edge of the arena that he had just chased Virion to.

"Another victory for Virion and the Shepherds!" The announcer exclaimed as the crowd erupted and Virion once again started bowing. "It's not everyday that-"

Whatever the announcer was saying was suddenly cut when a blunted hatchet flew through the air and caught Virion in the back as he was standing up, sending the archer sprawling. Before Virion could gather himself, a man stepped directly over the archer's prone form and held an axe over him. There was dead silence for a second, then the crowd erupted with boos from both ends of the arena.

"Gach isn't known for his patience folks, and that was a legal hit," the announcer quickly called out while Robin was still recovering from the shock of the unexpected blow that Virion had taken. A quick glance towards the East-Khan's box showed that Chrom was irate at the cheap hit and that Sumia had yet to react other than covering her mouth in surprise. Meanwhile, Lissa had immediately left her spot on the sidelines with Ricken close behind. Robin half expected the cleric to start telling off the western Feroxi, but instead she just crowded the axeman out of the way and held her staff over Virion. After a second of concentration she must have determined that there wasn't any danger in moving him as she slowly helped him off the field with Ricken's help.

"Looks like ol' Teach needs to give someone some learning on manners!" Vaike announced himself as he came up from behind Robin. Surprisingly, he didn't immediately walk into the arena and instead paused next to her, waiting for approval.

The tactician considered it for a second, then nodded, "Go teach him a lesson Vaike." She was mildly annoyed that he had left the tunnel without her say, though it ultimately didn't matter since he was the right call. In Robin's original plans, Miriel would have been the next Shepherd into the arena so that she could fight the armored knight on the other side, but those plans were scrapped since Virion had pulled double duty. It still made sense to hold Frederick back and Robin certainly wasn't going to send Miriel out against an axeman by herself.

"It looks like class is in session! Next up for the Shepherds is Vaike, who's also known as Teach. Let's see how these two axe specialists fair against each other!" While the announcer spoke, Vaike confidently walked towards his opponent while Gach started to do the same. When they had both neared the center of the arena, the Feroxi man threw another hatchet but Vaike quickly moved his axe in the way so that the projectile bounced off and fell with a clatter near the Shepherd's feet. Vaike didn't get a chance to reset his stance because he had to use his axe to block a blow a swing from the other axeman immediately after. Gach had broken out into a sprint after tossing the second hatchet so the two entered a brutal combat of powerful swings and dodges.

As they fought, Robin realized that she hadn't watched Vaike all that much in an actual combat scenario and their training schedules hadn't matched up. She had mostly picked him for the fight based on his fighting style and was impressed by what she saw. Even though she still found his lack of armor ridiculous, Robin had to admit that what he had said about it not slowing him down had been true. The two combatants seemed to be evenly matched as they were a whirl of steel that didn't involve any blocks. Their axes hadn't met since the initial exchange as both of them were throwing themselves out of the way of their opponents' swings, which quickly led to a situation that they were both covered in nicks.

The crowd seemed equally mesmerized by the performance and Robin mused that this was the first even match that they had seen today. All of the previous ones had been heavily influenced by the champions' fighting style, which didn't necessarily make for the most interesting spectating. Even though it looked much more impressive, this fight wasn't terribly different in the sense that with their mirrored styles, the first one to make a mistake would lose.

Thankfully, it was Gach that made the mishap when his foot slid slightly on the arena's tile when he tried to dodge a swing from Vaike. The Feroxi man stumbled and Vaike immediately took advantage by following up the attack that Gach had dodged with a lateral swing that caught him in the side and sent him sprawling. Vaike stepped over the man and held his axe over him in an exact mirror of how Gach had held his over Virion minutes ago. The Feroxi axeman growled in frustration, then released his grip on his axe to the cheers of the crowd.

"You better study up for next time Gach, because you just got flunked!" The announcer called over the cheers of the crowd. There was some quick discussion on the western side of the arena that ended with the second western mage stepping into the arena to Robin's surprise. It didn't make sense to her for them to send their Thunder mage out against Vaike when their archer was still available. Her thoughts were interrupted as the announcer introduced the odd deployment, "The west's next champion is Tardan, who was once struck by lightning and walked away unscathed!" Murmurings from the crowd made it clear that they were very impressed with that statement while Robin snorted derisively. That 'feat' said significantly more about the man's robes than it did his skills as a mage.

Vaike ran towards the western side of the arena as soon as the mage stepped into its bounds and dodged the first Thunder that flew his way. While Tardan was preparing to cast his second, Vaike threw something at the mage and the unexpected projectile caught the man in the shoulder, causing the spell to fly upwards as his aim was spoiled. Robin's quick glance at the center of the arena confirmed that the hatchet that Gach had thrown at Vaike was missing, so Vaike must have picked it up when everyone else was distracted by the champion change.

Though she was pleased with his quick thinking, Robin wished that Vaike had held onto the weapon for one more cast when the mage's third Thunder finally hit Vaike. The shock forced him to pause his charge and he was immediately hit by a second spell now that he was a stationary target. The axeman managed to take one step forward, then collapsed only a few steps away from his opponent. The western half of the crowd cheered as Lissa and Ricken ran onto the arena's floor for the second time in a row as they helped bring Vaike back to rest on the sidelines with the rest of the Shepherds. While the Feroxi that had been treated by Lissa had already left the arena's floor, all of the Shepherds had stayed on the sidelines to watch the remaining fights after they had been checked by the cleric.

While the announcer made a comment about Vaike being 'schooled,' Robin considered who should be the next to fight. Vaike's hatchet throw must have hurt the Tardan fairly badly, so she was fairly confident that all three of the remaining Shepherds could handle him. That meant that she should prioritize picking someone that would do well against either of the remaining western champions. Turning back towards the tunnel, she called, "Your turn Frederick!" Her order was immediately answered by the sound of hooves hitting tile and within a second Frederick charged past her at a full gallop.

"The Shepherds' secret weapon finally hits the field! Frederick is the personal guard to the prince and princess of Ylisse and he's got more than enough skill for the job!" Across the arena Robin could see that Tardan had paled at the sudden charge that he was faced with. The mage quickly cast a Thunder, but Frederick was still far enough away that the knight was able to angle his charge to avoid the ball of lightning.

The second Thunder did hit Frederick and caused both horse and rider to shudder as the electricity arced over them. Frederick uncharacteristically lost his grip on his shield at the shock and it clattered to the ground as he continued to charge towards the mage. His grip on his lance had loosened as well, but he was able to quickly bring its point back up as he shrugged off the spell. Without enough time to cast another Thunder before Frederick reached him, Tardan took a step backwards and removed himself from the bounds of the arena.

Even though there were pockets of boos and jeers from the crowd, Robin couldn't fault the mage's decision to disqualify himself. The odds that Tardan would have been able to dodge Frederick's lance were fairly low and without something to parry the blow, it wouldn't have been a risk that she would have wanted to take either. Even though the lance was blunted, it would have likely broken at least one bone considering how fast Frederick had been going.

"An unfortunate turn of events for the west! Let's see if Azen can replicate Virion's success at defeating an armored opponent!" Robin could hear members of the crowd make various sounds of confusion, which was a sentiment she wholeheartedly shared. Noting the crowd's bewilderment, the announcer explained. "For those of you new to the Clash, the last combatant for each team must be their captain, so Azen must fight before Marth!" Robin was suddenly glad that she hadn't gone out to fight Tardan as she had considered earlier; she had somehow missed that rule even with her research.

Frederick had returned to the center of the arena and was waiting patiently for his opponent to enter its bounds, which was something that the archer was clearly loath to do so. After a few more moments of hesitation he stepped into the arena and simultaneously fired an arrow. Without his shield, Frederick was unable to react to the arrow and it hit him on his left shoulder, leaving a small dent and the knight immediately spurred Jagen forward.

Before Frederick could reach him, Azen desperately fired another arrow though this one was angled downwards so it hit Jagen. While the large horse's armor was able to stop the projectile it still caused the horse to whinny loudly at the hit. When his second arrow also failed to slow his opponent's advance, the archer quickly dodged to his right but was caught in the side by Fredericks lance as the knight swept it to the side. Since Azen hadn't taken any steps farther into the arena after his first, the force of the blow was all that was needed to knock him out of bounds.

"A poor showing from the western archer!" The announcer called as Frederick rode back to the center of the arena and Azen slowly pulled himself to his feet on the sidelines. "Can Marth repeat his predecessor's feat? Can he defeat all three of the remaining Shepherds?!" If Marth was phased by the announcer's hype, the mysterious swordsman gave no indication of it as he calmly drew his sword. Without hesitation, he walked into the bounds of the arena and once again Frederick immediately started to charge at his new opponent.

Unlike his teammates, Marth immediately broke into a sprint and the crowd started cheering in anticipation. Oddly, Marth didn't make any aggressive move towards Frederick when they met and he instead quickly dodged past the knight and continued running. Before Frederick could swing back around towards the swordsman, Marth reached his target and scooped up the shield had been dropped earlier. Now armed with protection, the swordsman turned back to face Frederick and stoically waited as the knight charged.

When Frederick arrived, he stabbed at Marth with his lance but the masked man once again pivoted at the last second. Instead of fully dodging the attack, Marth brought his newly acquired shield up so that was in the way of Frederick's lance while simultaneously swinging his sword. Secure in his armor, Frederick didn't even try to stop the swing and so he was caught off guard when Marth's sword connected with his lance. Caught between Marth's sword and shield, the lance twisted at an odd angle and was ripped from Frederick's hands.

The west Feroxi crowd exploded in cheers as the seemingly unstoppable knight was disarmed, but Robin was simply stunned. She had known that Marth was strong, but disarming Frederick was an incredibly impressive feat. Robin had never seen him drop his weapon before and suspected that he had kept an even tighter grip than normal after losing his shield which might have been his undoing. Meanwhile, Frederick slowly inclined his head at Marth and began making his way towards the Shepherds on the sidelines.

"It would appear that it is my turn to enter the arena," Miriel calmly announced as she stepped next to Robin.

The tactician nodded slowly, "Yeah, I guess I have to be the last one to fight." As the women watched, Marth discarded his shield and made his way to the center of the arena. "I'm sorry that you have to go against… that."

"It is of no matter. I shall endeavor to inflict a suitable amount of damage so as to lessen your own challenge."

Robin wanly smiled, neither of them had any illusions that Miriel would be able to defeat Marth. She doubted that Marth would let himself be hit by more than a single Fire spell and knew that wouldn't be enough to take the man out of the fight.

"The next Shepherd to enter the arena is Miriel! This analytical mage tries to understand how everything works, and that includes her opponents!" Robin rolled her eyes at the announcer's comment; apparently not all of the material that Virion had provided him had been particularly good. Unfazed by her introduction, Miriel stepped into the arena and calmly waited as Marth approached. There was no reason to waste energy casting spells that could obviously be dodged.

Once Marth had reached about forty feet from Miriel, she finally fired a Fire spell at the masked man. Marth looked completely unconcerned at the approaching fireball and almost lazily brought his sword into the spell's path. Robin watched in bewilderment as the fireball exploded when it made contact with the sword and some of the flames flew back and hit the swordsman. Even Marth seemed surprised by what had occurred and he faltered for split-second before resuming his march on Miriel.

As soon as Miriel launched her second Fire spell, Marth broke into a sprint and narrowly dodged the projectile. The third Fire clipped Marth in the left shoulder and he staggered slightly at the explosion but was able to maintain his footing. Miriel didn't get a chance to cast a fourth spell because of the sword that was inches away from her chest.

"Surrender." Marth commanded in a low voice and without hesitating Miriel took a step backwards out of bounds. Marth nodded solemnly before returning to the center of the arena to await his last opponent.

"It all comes down to this, folks! Can Robin, master of both sword and tome, defeat the peerless swordsman Marth?! The western champion took a couple of hits in that last fight, but will it be enough to make a difference?!"

Robin hated to admit it, but she suspected that the announcer was right and she would need the handicap that Miriel had won for her. She had little doubt that Marth would win every time in an even fight, but the injuries that he had taken might just be enough to tip the scales in her favor.

The tactician took a deep breath to center herself before stepping into the arena's bounds while raising her tome in her left hand. The Shepherds had done well despite their numbers disadvantage, but now everything came down to her. If she won then Ylisse would have its alliance with Regna Ferox. If she lost then she would have to hope that the Shepherd's performance and Lissa's healing services would be enough to convince the West-Khan to accept the alliance anyway.

While Robin had been thinking about the ramifications of the fight, Marth had begun to slowly walk towards her with the blunted sword that had just defeated Miriel raised in a guard stance. Considering the relative lack of luck Miriel had just had with hitting with the more accurate Fire spell, Robin resigning herself to a melee fight and walked forward to meet Marth in the arena. Unlike previous bouts, there was no flurry of movement when the two opponents reached each other and instead they stood still to regard the other. Even though they hadn't made any moves yet, the crowd exploded in cheers in anticipation of the final bout.

"Thank you for your help against the Risen," Robin offered while planning her attack. From watching Marth's fights with Frederick and Miriel, the masked man was clearly agile which gave him a leg over Robin. The comfortable weight of the tome in her left hand would have to be her way to victory. It wouldn't have been useful at a range, but perhaps she would be able to catch Marth off guard with a Thunder during a melee engagement.

Marth appeared to have been sizing her up at the same time and he slowly nodded in response to her thanks. "Why isn't the prince participating?" He asked while experimentally swinging his sword at Robin. Though Marth's calm expression never wavered, there was an odd tone in his voice.

The tactician blocked the strike as she answered and transitioned into a lateral swipe that made Marth jump backwards to avoid. "There was a misunderstanding at the border and he was injured." The masked man stumbled slightly as he was forced backwards and Robin surged forward to land a glancing blow on his side.

The two traded blows for several seconds in silence, aside from the occasional grunt, before Marth spoke again. "Is he alright now?" Unlike before, there was a clear urgency to his voice.

Robin shamefully realized that she wasn't entirely sure how Chrom was doing. With the preparations for the arena battle, she hadn't talked to him since their meeting with Flavia yesterday. It had seemed that he was doing fine then, but she had been just as worried as the rest of the Shepherds when it had taken him the entire journey from the border to Arena Ferox to awaken. Realizing that Marth was still waiting for an answer, Robin hastily replied as she blocked another quick swing from the swordsman, "Lissa and Sumia say he's fine."

Marth hesitated again at the answer and Robin took the opportunity to stab out at the masked man. This time he dodged out of the way without taking a hit and retaliated with a flurry of blows that Robin desperately tried to parry. A couple glancing hits had landed, but her cloak padded the already dulled blade. Thankfully, Marth hadn't managed to make any cuts in the fabric so Robin didn't need to worry about facing a burst of exhaustion in the middle of the fight. Emboldened by the fact that she was actually getting some protection out of her cloak in a battle for once, she stepped forward and managed to land another blow on Marth's left side before he danced backwards once again.

The two paused to regard each other again while Robin struggled to figure out what was so familiar about the fight. While it could have been some lost memory, Robin suspected that it was a recent one and that Anders would have been able to instantly tell her what she was thinking of. Marth stepped forward with another downward strike and Robin's eyes caught the swordsman's blue hair as she moved to block. The reminder instantly made her realize that Marth's fighting style was eerily similar to the one that Chrom had used when they had practiced. Marth's swings were slightly faster and less powerful, but relied on the same repeated assault stratagem that Chrom used.

The two stared at each other across their crossed blades and spoke at the same time. "Who are you?"

Robin furrowed her brow, unsure why Marth would have asked her the same question. Deciding that neither of them were likely to get the answers that they wanted right now, Robin returned her attention to the fight and disengaged her sword from Marth's and took a step backward before he could renew his assault. Then she dropped her sword.

Robin could tell that the announcer said something, but it was lost over the sounds of the western Feroxi crowd, who had already started celebrating their victory. Ignoring them, Robin raised her right hand and calmed announced, "Thunder." The small bolt of electricity shot forward and hit Marth right in the chest before he could react and the swordsman staggered backwards. The crowd fell into a stunned silence as Robin took a step after him and cast another Thunder. The second spell hit Marth's sword and the shock of the spell made him drop it.

The crowd was silent for a second, then erupted into cheers. They must have boosted the spell increasing the announcer's voice, because this time Robin could clearly hear his voice booming over the crowd. "Marth has been defeated! The Shepherds and East-Khan Flavia are the winners of the Clash!"

"You alright?" Robin asked Marth concerndly. Even with the mystery surrounding him, he seemed like a good person and she wanted to make sure since he hadn't moved after being hit by the second Thunder.

The swordsman experimentally closed and opened his right hand before he eventually kept it curled into a fist. "I'm fine," he replied neutrally and turned around to face the western side of the arena.

"Are you sure?" Robin called over the crowd, "We could have Lissa take a look." Keeping his back to her, Marth shook his head and walked out of the arena without stopping to retrieve his sword. Robin didn't get a chance to protest any further before she was suddenly pulled into a large hug from Lissa with the rest of the Shepherds close behind. Sully and Stahl must have been sitting in one of the lower rows of the stands because they had joined most everyone else in the celebration of their victory. Chrom and Sumia weren't as lucky and were still stuck in Flavia's viewing box, but Robin could see them cheering just as loud as everyone else.

The sudden realization that they had won flooded her with relief and Robin sagged slightly in Lissa's embrace as her exhaustion finally caught up. All she could think as the Shepherds basked in their victory was that she really wanted to rest.

Anders stared glumly into the mug of mead in front of him that had been left untouched for several minutes. He had tried a couple sips and had quickly decided that it was not for him, so now the mostly full mug seemed to be taunting him. It would have been so nice to drink several of the beverages and get as inebriated as many of the Feroxi and even some Shepherds were becoming at the party. He wasn't even able to distract himself by talking to any of the other Shepherds since the ones at his table weren't disposed to conversation at the moment. Miriel had taken a single curious sip of mead before retreating to Anders' table to intently observe the other partygoers. The other person who had joined him was Ricken, but the young mage was sulking after Frederick had cut him off after a single mug. Many of the other Shepherds were either dancing or participating in a drinking competition, and Anders was decidedly not in the mood for the former.

Returning to his own thoughts, Anders grunted in frustration as he replayed the events that had taken place since he had woken up on that hill. There had already been five different occasions where the Shepherds had been in danger since he had met them and despite being one of their members, he hadn't fought with them a single time. He certainly didn't begrudge Robin's usefulness and would readily agree that in all five situations it had made more sense for Robin to be swapped in instead of him, but that didn't make it sting any less. The most frustrating part was that he couldn't even imagine a situation where it would be more beneficial for him to participate in a fight instead of Robin. Even if he became a master at the bow and sword, it didn't seem like he would ever match the utility that was granted by Robin's magic and her tactical mind.

"What are you guys doing just sitting there? This is a party!" Anders looked up from his mug to see Lissa beaming down at him, though he thought that he could see concern on her face.

"Turns out it's not really my sort of thing," Anders replied with a shrug. "What about you? Happy that you finally got that party you wanted? Does it count even if Flavia is throwing it instead of Frederick?"

"Yeah, it's been great!" The cleric replied with a large grin, "Have you tried the food yet?"

The amnesiac nodded, even though he hadn't enjoyed the beverages, the food had been quite excellent. "Yep, it was pretty good. I had a roast… something. I'm not actually sure what kind of meat it was, but it was delicious. A lot better than bear, that's for sure."

Lissa pretended to gag at the reminder of the first meal that they had shared before quickly turning serious. "You sure you're doing okay though?" She asked, "You looked a little down there."

Anders had to stop himself from ruefully smiling at the cleric's concern. He'd been worried about how she was doing but it turned out that she was better off than he was. Or at least she was better than him at hiding it. "I'm fine," he said, then added when he saw the doubt in her eyes. "Really. Anyway, what did you guys think of the arena fight?" Anders turned as he asked the question to include Ricken in the conversation, hoping that Lissa wouldn't keep pressuring him.

The question about the bouts was enough to get Ricken's attention and the young mage immediately perked back up. "It was awesome! Some of them were kind of odd, but everyone was really impressive!"

When Anders gave the cleric a questioning look, she shrugged. "It was fine. Everyone was just hitting each other with practice weapons so it wasn't that different than normal training." She grimaced, "Not that people normally get hit in the back during training."

Anders mirrored her expression at the reminder of the surprise hit that his archery instructor had taken, "How's Virion doing? I didn't get a chance to talk to him yet."

"His back will be sore for a couple days, but he's fine otherwise."

"That's not too bad then," Anders said and they entered a somewhat awkward silence as the conversation died.

He was just about to tell Lissa to go back to enjoying the party when Ricken spoke up, "What were Robin and Marth talking about during their fight?"

"Oh yeah!" Lissa added, "We could see them talking but couldn't hear anything."

Anders quickly checked Robin's memories to refresh his recollection of that part of the arena fight. "First Robin thanked Marth for helping us against the Risen that first night…" He trailed off and frowned thoughtfully. "Huh, I just realized that Marth seemed to immediately understand what Robin was talking about when she said 'Risen.'"

"I don't think that's that weird." Lissa said and continued with a shudder, "The name is sorta on the nose, don't you think?"

"Besides," Miriel interjected. The other mage had halted her observations of the Feroxi party at some point to listen to their conversation. "Your own recollections of your first encounter with the Risen greatly implied that this Marth was exceedingly familiar with the creatures."

"Right, but that doesn't explain how he would know a name that the Ylissean council gave them afterwards." When Miriel didn't have an answer for that, he shrugged and decided that Lissa must be right. "At any rate, after that Marth asked why Chrom wasn't participating, so Robin said there was a misunderstanding at the border and he was hurt." Anders carefully watched Lissa's expression as he spoke. Even if he hadn't already intended to verify that she was alright, her concern for him made him doubly want to make sure.

Lissa didn't react apart from a slight grimace which Anders decided to take as a good sign. Before he could continue recounting the fight, he was interrupted by a loud voice. "There's one of the people I was looking for! I wanted to thank you for taking care of my men, princess." Anders looked over to the source of the voice and saw a large man that looked every bit the stereotypical northern barbarian, completing the look with an eyepatch. Standing on his right side was a stoic looking man wearing warm-looking clothing with a sword at his side. Behind him on the left was a young woman with long pink hair who was wearing white clothing that didn't look nearly warm enough for the climate of Regna Ferox.

Basilio. Lon'qu. Olivia.

The sound of the voice forced away any remaining dourness that Anders felt and he suddenly sat up to pay close attention to the newcomers. The voice had returned to its normal quiet tone, which was a welcome reversion after it had practically screamed at him back at the border. At any rate, he was excited to hear it again since it had been almost two weeks since it had named someone.

Meanwhile, Lissa had given Anders an odd look at his sudden movement before turning a smile towards the three. "No problem! You're the West-Khan right? I could see your box during the arena."

The man nodded and made an exaggerated grimace, "I guess I'll have to get used to being called West-Khan Basilio instead of Khan Regnant Basilio. To tell the truth, if you lot had come to me first, I probably would have given you the alliance and I'd still be in power!"

"Oh," Lissa answered hesitantly. "Sorry?"

Basilio laughed heartily at that, "No hard feelings lass. It just means I'll have to work that much harder in three years to get my title back!"

"You think Marth will still be part of your team then?" Anders asked in the hopes that the Khan would know more about the masked man than the Shepherds.

"Bah! That Marth is just some sellsword with delusions of grandeur," Basilio said dismissively and pointed at the swordsman behind him with his thumb. "All I know is that he turned up one eve and knocked my old champion flat. It was love at first sight, and I'm generally too old for such things! Anyway, he's gone now. Up and fled the moment the tournament ended."

Anders was surprised to hear that Marth had already left; he would have bet that Marth was going to stick around after the exchange during the last bout. "He left already? I think Robin had some questions for him."

Basilio shrugged, "Not sure what to tell you there. He left as suddenly as he showed up. Robin though, that's who your captain was in the fight, right? I wanted to talk to her and the prince as well."

Anders frowned slightly, it certainly wasn't unexpected that Basilio wanted to talk to Chrom, but Robin was a surprise. "What did you want to talk to them about?"

"We've got a small situation here in Ferox that I wanted to pick your tactician's brain about. As for the prince, I need to discuss our new partnership and give him my little present for you Shepherds."

"Present?" Lissa asked eagerly.

Basilio laughed heartily at the cleric's reaction before he once again jabbed his thumb towards the swordsman behind him. "I'm having Lon'qu here join your little group if the prince allows it. Consider him an early contribution from West Ferox to the Ylissean cause."

Anders mind raced as the beginnings of a pattern started to emerge. Before today the voice had only named members of the Shepherds plus Sumia's friend Cordelia. Now it was naming three people unaffiliated with the Ylissean militia immediately before one of them joined the group. It didn't make sense, but it almost seemed as if it was naming people who were Shepherds or would join the group. The idea of a foreign leader joining the Shepherds was unusual, but it was definitely possible that the man's second retainer or Sumia's close friend would join.

"I haven't seen Chrom lately," Lissa answered thoughtfully. "But Robin is-"

"Resting!" Anders interjected, "I'll go get her." He wanted to immediately check with Robin to get her thoughts on his new idea. He was also more than happy to have an excuse to leave the party.

"I'd appreciate that," Basilio said with a slight nod. "How about we track down your brother then princess?"

Lissa gave Anders a confused glance before returning to smiling at Basilio, "Sure! I bet he's over by the food."

As Anders stood up from the table he realized that Ricken and Miriel had still been sitting there the entire time without making any contributions to their conversations with Basilio. From their expressions, Ricken had been cowed by being in the presence of the Khan while Miriel had simply returned to paying attention to the partygoers. As Anders left the room that the party was being held, the last thing that he heard was Lon'qu loudly claim that Lissa was too close to him.

A/N: Not much to say about this one other than I hope you didn't mind the changed up format of the arena fight. I worked through a few different variantions and this is the one that I ended up liking the most. As always, thanks to everyone that's followed or favorited and to Robert for betaing. Next up is Chapter 10: Foibles in Ferox.